This leadership change at Poly Property Services, whether it can lead this central state-owned property management giant to break through the current challenges and move forward, still requires time to test.
On January 28, a source close to Poly Property Services Co., Ltd. stated that the recent personnel adjustments at Poly Property Services are consistent with the strategy of its major shareholder and are also a continuation of the company's previous strategy. The current strategy is part of the "15th Five-Year Plan." Regarding future strategic plans, they may be released after the upcoming performance briefing.
On January 27, Poly Property Services issued several announcements announcing significant changes in its core management: the company's Executive Director and General Manager Yao Yucheng, and the Board Secretary and Joint Company Secretary Yin Chao both resigned due to "work adjustments." Their successors are Wang Yingnan, who has over 15 years of real estate operation experience within the Poly Development system, and Liu Long, who was promoted internally.
These personnel changes coincide with the major shareholder Poly Development Holdings initiating a new round of organizational restructuring, which the market widely interprets as a key move by the Poly group to strengthen synergy between real estate and property services and respond to the industry's deep adjustments. However, against the backdrop of overall pressure on the real estate industry and sluggish growth in the property services sector, whether this leadership change can lead this central state-owned property management giant to break through and move forward still requires time to test.
━━━━ Real Estate Veteran's Arrival and the Departure of the "Cost-Cutting Expert"
The announcements show that Yao Yucheng's departure took effect on January 27, 2026; he resigned from all his positions, including Executive Director, General Manager, and member of the Strategy and Sustainable Development Committee. Poly Property Services emphasized in the announcement that Yao Yucheng has confirmed no disagreement with the Board. Wang Yingnan, who replaces him, was approved by the Board on the same day to assume the role of General Manager and was nominated as a candidate for Executive Director.
Public resumes reveal that the two leaders have distinctly different career trajectories. The departing Yao Yucheng holds a Ph.D. in Management and is regarded within the industry as an expert in "cost reduction and efficiency enhancement." He was appointed as General Manager of Poly Property Services in early 2023, having previously been long responsible for human resources work at Poly Development. After taking office, his "drastic" human resources strategies had an immediate effect: the company's total number of employees plummeted from 43,400 at the end of 2022 to 30,300 in the first half of 2025, and total employee costs were effectively controlled.
In contrast, the new General Manager Wang Yingnan is a "veteran Poly insider" deeply experienced in real estate development and operations. The 47-year-old Wang Yingnan, after joining Poly Development in 2010, successively held key positions in regional companies such as Poly Beijing and Poly South China, and once headed the Operations Management Center at Poly Development's headquarters, possessing profound experience in the full-cycle operation of real estate projects. His appointment is seen as a clear signal that Poly Development is injecting core operational management talent into the property services segment to strengthen business synergy.
Simultaneously, the position of Board Secretary at Poly Property Services also saw a handover. The former Board Secretary Yin Chao also left due to work adjustments. His successor, Liu Long, is a manager who grew up within the Poly system, possessing a composite resume with experience in multiple locations and roles at China Resources Land and Poly. Since joining Poly Property Services in 2020, he has served as General Manager of the Operations Management Center and Assistant General Manager, among other positions.
Having both the General Manager and Board Secretary positions change hands on the same day is relatively uncommon among leading property management enterprises. Although the company officially and sources close to the matter have emphasized this as "routine operation" and "strategic continuity," the capital market reacted promptly, with Poly Property Services' stock price opening lower the day after the announcement.
Market analysts believe this adjustment is primarily based on two major backgrounds: "First, Poly Development Holdings Group recently initiated a headquarters restructuring, merging the 'Operations Management Center' and 'Product Management Center' into the 'Real Estate Operations Center,' aiming to strengthen full-cycle asset operation and professional synergy. As the core of the 'Comprehensive Services' segment within the group's 'Three Main Businesses,' the personnel adjustments at Poly Property Services are a natural outcome of the group's strategic transmission. Second, the property management industry is shifting from scale expansion to intensive management of existing assets. The industry universally faces gross margin pressure and growth challenges, leading companies to focus more on management efficiency and cost control, making cross-segment rotation of senior executives commonplace."
"There are multiple strategic considerations behind this leadership change: the property services segment is entrusted by the group with the mission of being the 'second growth curve.' This adjustment is to further drive the implementation of the strategy, promote deeper synergy between real estate and property services, and simultaneously enhance the market competitiveness of the property services segment. Furthermore, this is also part of the normal iteration of management and talent cultivation within the enterprise, aimed at optimizing the internal management structure to cope with industry changes," analyzed Zhang Hongwei, founder of Mirror Consulting.
━━━━ Performance Pressure and Synergy Enhancement
The new management team composed of Wang Yingnan and Liu Long carries a dual burden: one side is tied to the group's internal expectations for deeper strategic synergy, while the other is weighed down by the company's own urgent need to break through performance growth bottlenecks.
It must be mentioned that the current operating condition of the major shareholder, Poly Development, poses a real-world test to the previously market-focused "synergy effect." According to Poly Development's 2025 annual performance forecast, its net profit attributable to the parent company is estimated to be only 1.026 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 79.49%; after deducting non-recurring gains and losses, the net profit attributable to the parent company was 628 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 85.25%. Against the backdrop of a significant contraction in the major shareholder's real estate business profits, the previous synergy logic of "real estate feeding property services, and property services reciprocating real estate" is facing a practical test.
Market analysis reiterates that a primary challenge for the new management will be how Poly Property Services can, in its business linkage with the major shareholder, both secure stable resource support and forge independent market competitiveness.
Looking at Poly Property Services' own performance, the slowdown in growth momentum is evident. The 2025 interim report showed that while the company's operating revenue and net profit maintained growth, the gross profit margin slightly decreased to 19.38%. Among this, the gross profit margin for non-property-owner value-added services reliant on the real estate segment (such as sales center services, pre-consulting, etc.) fell by 6.84 percentage points year-on-year to 11.21%. Management frankly attributed this to adjustments in the real estate business leading to a reduction in the number of related projects, lower service fee standards, and pressure on office building asset operations.
A more market-noteworthy signal comes from Poly Property Services' equity incentive plan. In 2021, Poly Property Services launched an equity incentive plan that was leading in scale within the industry. However, the unlocking conditions for the third tranche of the initially granted portion were not met, involving 185 incentive recipients. This is widely interpreted by outsiders as an indirect reflection that the 2025 performance may have fallen short of expectations and is also considered by some analysts as one of the important reasons prompting this management change.
It is worth noting that amidst the challenges lies a clear strategic path. This personnel change is consistent with a series of recent actions by Poly Property Services. On the same day as the personnel announcements, the company also announced the renewal of a three-year parking space agency framework agreement with Poly Development, with the annual cap on agency service fees for the next three years reaching as high as 500 million yuan, demonstrating the depth and continuity of related business synergy. Furthermore, the reserved portion of the company's equity incentive plan successfully entered the second unlocking period, also signaling that the internal incentive system remains effectively operational.
The intention behind appointing a manager like Wang Yingnan, with rich real estate operation experience, is very clear. Zhang Hongwei believes, "This perhaps indicates that the primary task for Poly Property Services moving forward will shift from an internal focus on 'cost reduction and efficiency enhancement' towards leveraging the central state-owned enterprise resources of Poly Development to extend into higher-value, higher-return property service tracks such as commercial asset operation and urban public services, seeking new profit growth points."
Industry observers point out that Poly Property Services' adjustment is not an isolated case. Since the second half of 2025, several property service firms, including Landsea Green Life and Jinmao Services, have seen core positions filled by senior executives parachuted in or transferred from their real estate affiliates. This collectively reflects that, under the ongoing pressure on the main business of real estate development, property service platforms with relatively stable valuations and good cash flow are increasingly becoming important "safe harbors" and "testing grounds" for internal talent circulation, experience transfer, and value mining within groups.
For Poly Property Services, whether the refined operational thinking from real estate that Wang Yingnan brings can combine effectively with the internal property management system familiar to Liu Long, under the coordination of Chairman Wu Lanyu (who also serves as Deputy General Manager of Poly Development), will directly determine whether this central state-owned property management leader can navigate the industry's winter and carve out a path of high-quality development that relies on, yet transcends, mere synergy.